what's the point of new media? (uiuc version)
DESCRIPTION
This is a talk Cheryl Ball gave at University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, for the digital literacies reading group. (Jan 2008)TRANSCRIPT
What’s the Point of New Media?!
What’s the Point of New Media?!
Evaluating Transitional Scholarship
Dr. Cheryl E. Ball, Illinois State University
Evaluating Transitional Scholarship
Dr. Cheryl E. Ball, Illinois State University
Catherine Braun and Kenneth Gilbert Catherine Braun and Kenneth Gilbert
“This is Scholarship”
MLA T&P report, 2006
CCCC Survey of Multimodal Writing Instructors (Anderson et al, 2006)
CCCC Survey of Multimodal Writing Instructors (Anderson et al, 2006)
Does your department & institution count electronic publications (multimodal or not) toward tenure? (n=36)
• Yes = 44% • Yes, with exceptions = 8%• Yes, but no one has tried yet = 22%
Does your department & institution count electronic publications (multimodal or not) toward tenure? (n=36)
• Yes = 44% • Yes, with exceptions = 8%• Yes, but no one has tried yet = 22%
CCCC Survey of Multimodal Writing Instructors (Anderson et al, 2006)
CCCC Survey of Multimodal Writing Instructors (Anderson et al, 2006)
What percentage of your electronic-only scholarship has or will count toward tenure? (n=31)
• All of it counted = 29% • > 10-percent of it counted = 16%• None counted = 13%
What percentage of your electronic-only scholarship has or will count toward tenure? (n=31)
• All of it counted = 29% • > 10-percent of it counted = 16%• None counted = 13%
CCCC Survey of Multimodal Writing Instructors (Anderson et al, 2006)
CCCC Survey of Multimodal Writing Instructors (Anderson et al, 2006)
Of those electronic publications, what percentage would you count as multimodal? (n=31)
• All of it = 19% • > 10-percent of it = 10%• None = 26%
Of those electronic publications, what percentage would you count as multimodal? (n=31)
• All of it = 19% • > 10-percent of it = 10%• None = 26%
Ways Faculty Use Digital Media (Braun, 2006)
Ways Faculty Use Digital Media (Braun, 2006)
Management/Analysis/Production in Teaching & Research
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Category of Response
Number of Responses
Teaching
Research
Teaching 81 28 12
Research 87 9 3
Management Analysis Production
Management Analysis Production
Spectrum of Digital ScholarshipSpectrum of Digital Scholarship
Braun (2006)print online digital media
print-based print-like webtext new mediaWarner (2007)
Braun (2006)print online digital media
print-based print-like webtext new mediaWarner (2007)
James English (2005) “Scholarly journals in the digital
age”
James English (2005) “Scholarly journals in the digital
age”
However much the advent of electronic venues, searchable databases of academic work, broadband access, and so on have reshaped our scholarly practices as researchers, these developments have done little to transform our scholarly 'output’--the published article itself.
However much the advent of electronic venues, searchable databases of academic work, broadband access, and so on have reshaped our scholarly practices as researchers, these developments have done little to transform our scholarly 'output’--the published article itself.
James English (2005) “Scholarly journals in the digital
age”
James English (2005) “Scholarly journals in the digital
age”
As Cheryl Ball, among others, has pointed out, new media scholarship has essentially consisted of conventional scholarship about new media rather than of scholarship within which new media have been taken up and deployed toward innovative ends - that is, toward a break with traditional print-bound models. The actual quantity of scholarship of this more innovative sort, as represented in academic journals, is infinitesimal, and it is mostly to be found in the journals of low-rung academic fields whose claims to scholarly legitimacy would in any case be disputed.
As Cheryl Ball, among others, has pointed out, new media scholarship has essentially consisted of conventional scholarship about new media rather than of scholarship within which new media have been taken up and deployed toward innovative ends - that is, toward a break with traditional print-bound models. The actual quantity of scholarship of this more innovative sort, as represented in academic journals, is infinitesimal, and it is mostly to be found in the journals of low-rung academic fields whose claims to scholarly legitimacy would in any case be disputed.
James English (2005) “Scholarly journals in the digital
age”
James English (2005) “Scholarly journals in the digital
age”
(The best example is Kairos, a rhetoric and composition journal focused on the use of computing in the teaching of writing. Given the lowly status of composition studies within humanistic research, the Kairos editors' preference for 'webtexts' over conventional articles is liable to being read as tacit capitulation to the weakness of their field rather than as a sign of its exceptional inventiveness.) (p. 10)
(The best example is Kairos, a rhetoric and composition journal focused on the use of computing in the teaching of writing. Given the lowly status of composition studies within humanistic research, the Kairos editors' preference for 'webtexts' over conventional articles is liable to being read as tacit capitulation to the weakness of their field rather than as a sign of its exceptional inventiveness.) (p. 10)
James English (2005) “Scholarly journals in the digital
age”
James English (2005) “Scholarly journals in the digital
age”
The fact is, the dominant trend over the last decade has been precisely in the opposite direction, with electronic journals evolving toward ever more perfect mimicry of printed material. … [A]uthors always complained about the deficient aesthetics of e-journal text: asterisks denoting italics and pointy carets indicating footnote references…. (p. 10)
The fact is, the dominant trend over the last decade has been precisely in the opposite direction, with electronic journals evolving toward ever more perfect mimicry of printed material. … [A]uthors always complained about the deficient aesthetics of e-journal text: asterisks denoting italics and pointy carets indicating footnote references…. (p. 10)
James Kalmbach (2006) “Ten years of nonlinear (Kairos)
history”
James Kalmbach (2006) “Ten years of nonlinear (Kairos)
history”
• Linear• Exploratory• Looping• Sequential• Matrix• Menu•Multi-windowed•Timelime (new in later
years)
• Linear• Exploratory• Looping• Sequential• Matrix• Menu•Multi-windowed•Timelime (new in later
years)
Types of Webtexts
Allison Brovey Warner (2007) analyzed Kairos webtexts compared to traditional scholarly conventions
Allison Brovey Warner (2007) analyzed Kairos webtexts compared to traditional scholarly conventions
• Webtexts follow print conventions regarding content
• Webtexts diverge from print conventions regarding form
• Webtexts have added value through digital media/web affordances
• Webtexts follow print conventions regarding content
• Webtexts diverge from print conventions regarding form
• Webtexts have added value through digital media/web affordances
Allison Brovey Warner (2007) implications of study
Allison Brovey Warner (2007) implications of study
“The ability to engage with the content of a text depends on the accessibility of the form.”
“Readers often do not value what they do not understand.”
(p. 145)
“The ability to engage with the content of a text depends on the accessibility of the form.”
“Readers often do not value what they do not understand.”
(p. 145)
Why research new media scholarship?
Why research new media scholarship?
“As trends in online scholarship move toward new media studies, scholars will need to develop revised assessment strategies; the current assessment tool does not account for texts that make meaning in non-textual ways” (Warner, p. 148).
“As trends in online scholarship move toward new media studies, scholars will need to develop revised assessment strategies; the current assessment tool does not account for texts that make meaning in non-textual ways” (Warner, p. 148).
Why research new media scholarship?
Why research new media scholarship?
“One of the most important tasks for new media scholarship is the reflexive one of taking up these very problems of its own production, reflecting on the way our print-based protocols and property-based conceptualizations of culture are hampering and degrading our scholarship and, indeed, our thinking about the cultural effects of digitization” (English, 2005, p. 15).
“One of the most important tasks for new media scholarship is the reflexive one of taking up these very problems of its own production, reflecting on the way our print-based protocols and property-based conceptualizations of culture are hampering and degrading our scholarship and, indeed, our thinking about the cultural effects of digitization” (English, 2005, p. 15).
An example of new media scholarshipAn example of new media scholarship
Watkins, Robert. (May 2008). Words are the ultimate abstraction!: Towards using Scott McCloud to teach visual rhetoric. Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy [Special issue: Manifestos!].
Watkins, Robert. (May 2008). Words are the ultimate abstraction!: Towards using Scott McCloud to teach visual rhetoric. Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy [Special issue: Manifestos!].
An example of new media scholarshipAn example of new media scholarship
Words are the ultimate abstraction!Words are the ultimate abstraction!
Assessing new media textswith Warner’s heuristic
Assessing new media textswith Warner’s heuristic
• Content• Web-based allowances• Emerging conventions
• Content• Web-based allowances• Emerging conventions
Assessing contentAssessing content
• introduction• documentatio
n• lit review• methodology• formal tone
• introduction• documentatio
n• lit review• methodology• formal tone
Assessing added value(web-based allowances)
Assessing added value(web-based allowances)
• discrete nodes• multilinear
navigation• apropos links• form enacts
content• apropos
multimedia
• discrete nodes• multilinear
navigation• apropos links• form enacts
content• apropos
multimedia
Assessing emerging conventions
Assessing emerging conventions
• navigation instructions
• sitemap• effective linking• design
rationale• multimedia
enhancements
• navigation instructions
• sitemap• effective linking• design
rationale• multimedia
enhancements
Shifting notions of scholarly conventions in new
media
Shifting notions of scholarly conventions in new
media• space/time• memory• chapters/segments • design methodology • linearity/transcript of
voiceover• voice, pitch, tone• authority/credibility• ethos of print/digital bridge
• space/time• memory• chapters/segments • design methodology • linearity/transcript of
voiceover• voice, pitch, tone• authority/credibility• ethos of print/digital bridge
Continued research…Continued research…
“Changes do not come easily of such scope as to transform and force a revaluation of so basic a unit of measure as the peer-reviewed scholarly article” (English, 2005, pp. 11–12).
“Changes do not come easily of such scope as to transform and force a revaluation of so basic a unit of measure as the peer-reviewed scholarly article” (English, 2005, pp. 11–12).
Questions?Questions?
Thank You.
Dr. Cheryl [email protected]
Thank You.
Dr. Cheryl [email protected]